


Conflicted

by Shaunarnia



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Angst, F/M, Falling In Love, Flirting, Love, Love Triangle, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-03-25 13:15:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3811897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaunarnia/pseuds/Shaunarnia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Dean knocks on your hotel door, and you answer it wearing nothing but one of Seth's shirts and shorts.</p><p>Warnings: Implied smut, swears, kind of angsty!</p><p>You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the former Shield brothers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Conflicted

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a oneshot based on a gif imagine prompt I filled on my Dean gif imagine blog, and I kind of picked it up and ran with it. Hope you enjoy!

It's no secret that there’s been quite a bit of flirtation going on between you and Dean Ambrose as of late. The quick winks, the staring down, the way you look at each other...nobody can deny that there's some sort of attraction. However, it's also no secret that you have something extremely similar, if not something  _more_  than that with Seth Rollins. Hell, the fact that he's in your hotel room with you right this very moment says it all. It's nothing serious – you’ve both been very clear about that – but you can’t exactly complain.

“It’s cool if I take a shower, right?” 

Seth rests his head against your shoulder as he lays next to you. Okay, so, you two may have had a bit of… _fun_  earlier. You're both practically naked, and you’re currently curled up next to him with the sheets draping over your chest to cover yourself up a bit.

“You’re kidding me, aren’t you?” you chuckle, batting his chest with the back of your hand, “Of course it’s cool. You know where it is.”

“You’re not gonna join me?” 

He pouts at you, and you shake your head at him with a grin on your face.

“As tempting as it sounds, I’m exhausted. I’m probably just gonna sleep for a bit. Besides, the shower wouldn’t fit the two of us.”

“Alright, I won’t be long,” he sighs lightly and climbs out of bed, and you just let your head sink into the pillow, “Don’t miss me too much.”

“Hm, I’ll try not to.” You smirked and closed your eyes.

Not five minutes pass, and there's a knock at the door. You decide to ignore it at first, but the knocking becomes more persistent. You sigh and reluctantly climb out of bed, grabbing a pair of shorts and Seth’s shirt to slip on. You can’t help but breathe in his scent, smirking at how big his shirt actually is on you. You unlock the door, not even thinking to look through the peephole to see who's standing outside, and your face drops when you open the door. 

Dean is standing right in front of you, staring you in the face. He’s stopped by totally unexpectedly, and as soon as he notices the shirt you're wearing, the dimpled smile on his face has faded.

“Dean…”

You begin, sighing and rubbing a hand over your face.

“You and  _him_ , huh?” 

He gestures at Seth’s shirt in disgust. That's all he can manage. It's only now that you pay attention to what he's wearing. He's not wearing in his typical tank top and torn jeans. No, these are better jeans, probably his best jeans, accompanied by a decent tee and a leather jacket. He looks like he's ready to go out somewhere, and it just now hits you that he may have been looking to invite someone along with him.

“Please, hear me out-“

“You and Rollins? Really!? Don’t worry, (Y/N), I hear you, alright. I hear you loud and clear!”

Despondency turns to anger, and his yelling is practically echoing through the corridor. Seth hasn’t emerged from the bathroom to see what's going on, and you can’t blame him. Dean would probably bury him if he caught sight of him.

“And there was me thinking you were actually interested, and that you actually liked me,” he runs a hand through his hair and chuckles the dejection away, “Man, I’m a fuckin’ idiot, huh?”

You can’t even look him in the eyes. You know he's not going to let you get a word in anyway, but the guilt is beginning to eat away at you at this point.

“I shoulda known someone else would come along before I even had the balls to ask you out, but  _him_? My former fuckin’  _brother_?!” his voice cracks, and it pretty much breaks you, “Whatever. I’m out. I hope he’s worth it.”

Dean storms off down the corridor, kicking everything in sight, punching a wall or two along the way. You have no idea whether to stay here and wait for Seth, or whether to chase after Dean. You’ve never been so conflicted in your life.


	2. Ultimatum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're not sure what's come over you, but you chase after Dean.

You rake your fingers through your hair, and it's almost as if your brain has no control over your legs. You're sprinting down the corridor after Dean, leaving the door to your room wide open, but you're not really concerned because Seth was still in your bathroom.

“Dean, wait!”

You call out to him, but he's not stopping. If anything, he's quickening his pace, like he’s desperate to get away from you.

“Dean, just let me talk to you-“

“What is there to talk about, (Y/N)?!”

He spins around, and there's a fire in his eyes, one that’s warning, even begging you to retreat to your room before he says or does something he’ll regret.

“You led me on and then you went and slept with that scumbag,” he studies your face for a moment, “Yeah, I know that’s exactly what you two did. I ain’t crazy and I ain’t fuckin’ stupid, sweetheart.”

You fold your arms and avoid eye contact with him, now beginning to regret running after him like you did. He's still so bitter and angry.

“Was he worth it?” he asks, clearing his throat and drumming his fingertips along his collarbone, “Was he good, (Y/N)?”

His tone is dark; dark enough to make your stomach drop.

“Did he make you moan? Make you scream for more?”

“I don’t wanna do this-“

“Was he better than I’ve ever been in your dreams and fantasies? I know you’ve thought about me once or twice, darlin’.”

“Dean-“

“ _ **Was he the best you’ve ever had?!**_ ”

You don’t even realise that you’ve silenced him with a slap until your palm begins to sting. He rolls his tongue over his front teeth and then flicks it out over his bottom lip, nodding his head and rubbing at his cheek.

He looks like he was ready to retaliate, but you roughly cup his face with your hands and pull him down to you, fusing your lips together hungrily. You have no idea what's come over you. Maybe it's fear, possibly anger, maybe even a mixture of the two, but now he has you pinned against the corridor wall with his hands roaming all over your body, kissing you like he’s never kissed anyone else before.

Tongues don’t even have the chance to come into play. Dean abruptly stops and pulls back, stepping back from you, pacing angrily.

“Y’know what, (Y/N)? I ain’t doin’ this,” he rubs a hand over his face and roughs his hair up, “I can’t set myself up for this kinda hurt if all you wanna do is fool around. Nah, I don’t want that. I’m not some fuckin’ toy you feel like you can play with whenever you want to.”

You inhale deeply and step away from the wall, but you don’t approach Dean. You keep your distance.

“It’s me or him. And I’m just gonna let you know that I ain’t waitin’ forever, no matter how strongly I feel about you.”

You can’t give him a straight answer. Not right now. You know there's something there for him, but it's blindingly obvious that you feel something for Seth, too. You sigh, knowing that the best possible thing you can do right now is walk away after being presented with the ultimatum.

“I should get back now. I uh, I left the door wide open.”

“I get it. Don’t wanna keep lover boy waiting,” he scoffs and turns on his heel, “I’ll see you around, (Y/N).”

He turns his back on you and storms off down the corridor, undoubtedly going to visit the nearest bar, drink as much as he can handle, probably start a fight or two, just anything to release his anger. You amble back to your hotel room, and you're unable to fight the urge to glance back at him as he leaves.


	3. Sleep It Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With all that's transpired, you want some alone time to think things over.

You shut your hotel room door behind you and slump your back against the surface, letting out an exasperated sigh. A thousand thoughts rapidly race through your mind, and you have no idea what you're going to do about this situation. Like Dean said; h's not going to wait for you forever. He’s always claimed that he doesn’t care about things and always gave off such an apathetic vibe, but you're hurting him much more than he cares to show. He doesn’t know what hurts more. The way you strung him along had stung him, but playing him for one of his former best friends is what crushed him. It wasn’t intentional, of course. You have no idea what you wanted at the minute, and you're not a hundred percent sure if you're ready to fully commit to someone.

“Oh, you’re back,” Seth’s head pokes around the bathroom door, “And I was wondering where my shirt went. It looks good on you.”

He winks and smirks at you, but the smirk soon fades when he notices how distant you are. You hadn’t really paid attention to anything he just said to you. You're still dissociating from your dispute with Dean. Seth steps out of the bathroom, wearing only a pair of jeans, and makes his way over to you.

“What’s up? You seem out of it.”

He crouches down to your level and looks you in the eyes, but you don’t return his gaze. You’re still staring off into space, still lost in your own mind.

“Dean stopped by earlier.” 

You murmur, still not looking at him.

“Did he?”

“Don’t act like you didn’t hear him screaming at me.”

You slightly raise your voice at him, and he doesn’t know what to say. You actually don’t give him the chance to say anything. You're about to snap.

“You didn’t even come and see what the fuss was about. For all you know, he could’ve had me by the throat and you would’ve stayed in there twiddling your thumbs because you’re scared shitless of him. Y’know, to me, that’s a pathetic excuse of a bo-”

You stop yourself before the word can roll straight off your tongue.  _Boyfriend_. He’s not your boyfriend. You two may have hooked up, but it sure as hell isn’t anything more than that. The subject matter of a relationship has never been questioned or so much as brought up into conversation, and you want to keep it that way.

You growl and clinch your eyes shut, rubbing a hand across your face, but you soon feel Seth’s hand on your hip, pulling you into him so your body is pressed flush against his. He leans down to you, and you don’t realise what he's doing until you feel his beard graze against your skin. He begins to plant soft, gentle kisses in the crook of your neck, and no matter how much it usually turns you on, it isn’t going to get you into bed with him. Not right now. You’re not in the mood.

“Don’t…not now.”

You try shrugging him off, but it only makes him more eager, more persistent. He trails his kisses up to your jawline in an attempt to make you give in to him, like you usually do, but you don’t so much as crack a smirk at him. It only pisses you off even more, for some reason.

“Seth, I’m serious. I’m not in the mood. I wanna be alone.”

He pulls back and looks you straight in the eyes. He knows when to take no for an answer, and that's what you like about him. He's aware that you're pissed off, and although he means well, he's just not helping.

“Are you kicking me out?”

 He asks, placing a hand over his heart in mock hurt.

“Yeah, I am,” you sigh, “Look, I have a lot on my mind, I’m exhausted and my body’s aching.”

The latter brings a smirk to Seth’s face, and he begins to replay the images of today’s activities over and over again in his mind. You close your eyes and bring a hand to the nape of your neck, moaning quietly as you stretch.

“I just need to sleep it off. It’s nothing personal.”

“You do look pretty beat,” he admits, “Look, don’t worry about it. Go get some sleep. It’s cool.”

He smiles softly, and's the kind of smile that would melt you if you weren’t so fatigued right now. Chocolate eyes bore into yours when you finally lock eyes with him, and you fake a smile oh so perfectly. Perfect enough for him to fall for it.

“As soon as my head hits the pillow, it’ll be lights out for me,” you chuckle lightly, “C’mon, I’ll show you out. I need my beauty sleep.”

He gives you a nod of the head and proceeds to walk towards the door. He waits for you to unlock the door for him, but you noticed that you’ve claimed ownership of his shirt. You choose not to say anything, and it's not as if Seth cares very much anyway. He has every right to flaunt that body of his, and besides, his hotel room is only a floor or two above yours, anyway. You open the door for him, and he goes to waltz on out, but pivots and leans against the door frame instead.

“So, I guess I’ll see you at work.”

It sounds like an attempt at saying goodbye to you, but he remains in the doorway, like he’s expecting something other than a verbal goodbye from you in return. His stare burns right through you, but you hold your own and take no notice of it.

“Yeah. I’ll see you at work.”

You purse your lips together in a weak smile, and Seth take it upon him to leave you in your own company. You lock the door behind you and trudge your way to bed, collapsing onto the covers and closing your eyes. As much as you feel like crying right now, you're way too exhausted. It's not as if you're going to be getting a great deal of sleep anyway. Your thoughts are sure to do a damn good job of keeping you up all night.

 


	4. Torn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I really suck with summaries, but here goes;
> 
> After a night of practically no sleep, you turn to your fellow Divas for advice on your current dilemma.

Dragging yourself out of bed this morning is hard work. As expected, you didn’t get much sleep – a few hours tops – and you're surprised you don’t pass out at the wheel as you drive to the arena. You're dreading seeing some particular faces today, and if you're being completely honest, you don’t want to be here at all. You'd much prefer staying at the hotel for the day than face the possibility of bumping into Dean or Seth at some point during the day.

Things may or may not be awkward between you and Seth, depending on how he feels about the way you snapped at him last night, shot him in down in flames, and sent him out the door a few moments after that. Ever since you’ve been fooling around with him, he’s never seen that side of you, and you don’t intend to verbally lash out at him like that again. Being pissed off with Dean isn’t exactly a justifiable excuse, but that’s exactly why you were so poisonous last night.

As for Dean, he's the one you're dreading crossing paths with more than anything, especially after last night. Things are going to be undeniably tense, and you’ll be lucky to get some kind of acknowledgement from him, let alone a sentence or even a word. In fact, you’ll be surprised if he even shows up today. There's no doubt in your mind that after your dispute - and brief, lusty encounter that you don’t really want to recall – he went out for a drink last night to clear his head and try and shake you off his mind in some sort of failed attempt, possibly even taking some random girl at the bar back to his hotel room if, he actually went back there at all. Even if he did go back there, company or no company, he still wouldn’t be content because he wasn’t drunk enough and he wasn’t with you.

You haul your bag on your back as you stroll into the arena, still feeling too weak to stand. Even though you're inside, and it isn’t even sunny outside, sunglasses are a wise choice. You’ve made absolutely no effort today, and you're certain that you look a mess, because you certainly feel like one.

“Ooh, here she is!”

Some of the other Divas squeal upon your arrival backstage. You have no idea what the raising of the eyebrows and the giggling is all about, but you're pretty sure that you're about to find out. You give them a feeble wave, which is more like a wiggle of the fingers, and near towards them

“We’ve heard all about you, girl.” 

Cameron narrows her eyes at you, fashioning a half smirk as she exchanges knowing glances with the other girls.

“Wait, what? I’m so confused.” 

You chuckle and lean against the wall, and you could’ve easily slept there. Hell, even the cold, hard floor looks like a pretty inviting place to have a power nap at this point.

“Aw, c’mon, (Y/N)! We know about you and Seth.” 

Nikki chimes in, giving you a playful jab to the ribs with her elbow.

“You’re so lucky, girl! He’s pretty hot.” 

Alicia smirks at you, giving you a wink. You blush furiously at the mention of the topic, shielding your face with your hands.

“Oh my god, what have you heard?”

You clamp your eyes shut, dreading what the reply is going to be. You're positively going to kick Seth’s ass for this when you cross paths with him later today. Nobody else would so much as hint about this to the girls except him.

“Well, we know that you two have been gettin’ it on!”

Cameron grabs hold of your shoulders, squealing and laughing along with the other Divas as she shakes you from side to side. All you can do was simply take it all in stride, laughing it off and shaking your head at them.

“Why don’t you two just get together already? You’re practically a couple, and you’d be so cute!” 

Brie speaks up, looking around at the others. Each of them nod in agreement, but you dismiss the idea of it due to reasons unknown by them yet.

“Guys, it’s not that easy. We’ve been perfectly clear that this is nothing serious, and he knows I’m not ready to commit to anything yet too, so I’m pretty sure he’s waiting until I’m ready. Anyway, I have a bit of a dilemma.”

You bite down on your lower lip, now wishing that you hadn’t added that last bit in at all. Judging by the looks on their faces, they all assume the worst, practically cornering you in against the wall with bemused and apprehensive expressions staring you down. Much to your surprise, neither of the girls speak up. Instead, they simply wait for you to continue.

“It’s Dean.”

Is all you say. Initially, you're seeking a reaction from them to see if any of them are already aware of the whole Dean saga, but they still look as confused as they had been a second ago.

“None of you know about this?”

Your eyes flicker from Cameron, to Alicia, then to the Bella’s, and each one of them shake their heads no. You sigh, clearing your throat.

“Okay, I had this kind of…what can I call it…’flirtationship’ with Dean, right? Anyway, that’s basically the essential context, but he showed up at my hotel room last night out of the blue while Seth was there, and I just threw his shirt on and a pair of shorts I had lying around and answered the door to Dean. I didn’t know it was him, but anyway, he went all lunatic on me.”

You pause for a moment, seeing if the others are still following. They appear to be listening intently, so you continue.

“He basically told me how he felt about me in his own way and stormed off, and I felt awful. So I kind of ran after him, put up with more yelling, and I slapped him...” you bring your hand to your mouth, muffling your speech, “...And then I kissed him.”

“You what?!”

Each of them yell in harmony, and all you can do is purse your lips and nod your head. You can actually feel the tension in the atmosphere now.

“(Y/N), you can’t do that to him. You’re leading him on.” 

Brie frowns at you, turning to her sister for some backup, and Nikki pipes up about a few seconds later.

“Brie’s right, that’s so bad. You need to just straight up tell him that you’re not looking for anything with him. You’re probably really hurting him.”

“…I don’t wanna tell him that.”

You let your head fall back against the wall and bring your hands to your forehead, sweeping your hair back.

“What? Why?”

_Here it goes._

“You have no idea how much I pretty much hate myself for this, but I’m torn. It’s bad, I know.”

You trail off, and the Divas exchange glances. You know they're thinking of you totally differently now, but you can’t help the way you feel about the two Superstars. Respectively, your feelings for them are strong, but you're still so unsure of which set of feelings overpowers the other. This whole fiasco is beginning to stress you out, and you promise yourself that you won’t cry over it, but you’ve kept things bottled up for hours and finally need some form of release.

“Girl, we’re telling you this because we care,” Alicia interjects with a solemn tone, “It’s gonna end badly for  _ **you**_  if you don’t do the right thing. Not him.”

“Yeah, the last thing we wanna see is you getting hurt. Foxy’s right, it’s gonna be you that suffers if you don’t solve this thing now.”

Brie pulls you in for a hug, and you cling onto her while you take a moment to think things over. You pull back from her, nodding your head. You're sure that you know what you're going to do.

“Thanks, girls. This is just the kick up the ass I needed.”

You chuckle, thanking them profusely. They part like the red sea, allowing you to brush past and proceed down the corridor in search of Dean. There's no guarantee that he'll even want to look at you, but you want to have a mature, adult conversation with him about this instead of tolerating him screaming at you like he did last night.


	5. Talking Things Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All you want is for Dean to hear you out about everything, but he's still so bitter about everything. So, you go running to the one person you're always going to run back to.

You have no idea what you’re about to walk into. If Dean is actually here, and if he’s still feeling remotely as pissed off as he was last night, you're about to walk into hell. You're not going to him to pick a fight. You're simply going to speak to the man and talk things out rationally, rather than listen to him scream at you the way he did before you locked lips with him last night.

_I’m sorry I played you like a fucking idiot because I don’t know what I want. I hope we can at least try to be civil, possibly even friends._

That’s all you have to say, even if you don’t want to say it. Normally, you’d take a deep breath and dwell on whatever words you’d recited in your head, but you refrain from doing that right now. You haven’t rehearsed any kind of glorious sermon to present to Dean. You're going directly from the heart. You know that if you wait another second while you're standing outside his locker room, you’ll end up walking away. Dean needs to hear you out about this, seeing as he didn’t give you the chance to finish a full sentence last night. You tap on his locker room door. No response. You knock again, but more persistently this time.

“Goddammit, Dean, you’d better be here.”

You mutter to yourself as you pound on the door this time. It swings open immediately, accompanied by some disgruntled, incoherent murmuring.

“Isn’t it pretty damn obvious that I don’t wanna see anyo- oh.”

He yells at first, voice slightly hoarse, but he cuts himself short when he sees you at the door. He doesn’t look pleased to see you at all, and you don’t blame him. You look up into his eyes, and you can see the sadness and the effects of a lack of a good night’s sleep. He’ll never admit it to anyone, but he's hurting more than he’ll ever let anybody know.

“I know I’m the last person you wanna see right now, but I just came by to talk to you.”

You remove your glasses and hook them on the neck of your shirt.

“Then talk. I ain’t got all day, (Y/N).”

He fires back at you, but you brush it off. Hostility was to be expected from him.

“I mean I wanna talk to you in private, not out here. I know I’m overstepping my boundaries or whatever, but can I come in?”

“What, you scared of your lil’ boy toy seeing you with me?”

He smirks and scoffs when you don’t have an answer.

“Oh, he doesn’t know you’re here, does he?”

“I haven’t even seen him today. And he’s not my boy toy, my boyfriend, whatever the fuck you think he is to me. I’m not his and he’s not mine,” you pipe up, but quickly compose yourself, “If you must know, I sent him on his way last night because I felt awful about everything. Look, I don’t wanna argue or anything. I just really need to get something off my chest. Dean, just let me in. You haven’t given me a chance to speak.”

“Jesus Christ, fine.”

He gives in after a moment of contemplation, stepping aside and letting you in. He shuts the door behind you, and you awkwardly stand in the centre of his locker room with your arms folded across your stomach. As soon as he pivots around to stare you in the face, you feel fear begin to set in.

“Well?”

He spreads his arms out, and you can’t help but flinch slightly. The last thing you want to do is agitate him and piss him off. You collect yourself before pouring your heart out to him, hoping your voice won’t falter and that you won’t stumble on your words.

“I owe you an apology, alright? I’m sorry. I’m sorry I played you like a fucking idiot because I’m too selfish to know what I want. Stringing you along like that wasn’t fair, I know, but I’m not looking for anything right now. I should’ve told you that from the start. I don’t want us to completely blank each other or anything, so I hope we can at least try to be civil, possibly even friends.”

You exhale hard, mainly because you’ve finally dropped the huge weight you’ve been carrying around on your shoulders. You take a chance and hazard a glance at Dean, and he doesn’t exactly look willingly to accept your apology. He stares down at you incredulously before he bursts out into raucous laughter.

“You’re not looking for anything? (Y/N), look at who you’re fucking. You’re practically his!”

Dean is already raising his voice at you. Of course he's going to immediately bring Seth into the equation. That’s what he's always going to do. You sigh. You’ve done your part, but Dean's still pissed off with you.

“You don’t know what you want? Darlin’, you can say that all you like, but the way you kissed me last night tells me otherwise.”

Dean wags a finger and paces in front of you, abruptly coming to a halt and crouching down to your level. He gently lifts your chin up with his index finger to make you look at him. His eyes pierce your own, and it takes everything in his power not to make a move on you.

“Don’t tell me, Seth doesn’t know about that either, does he?”

He raises his brows at you, and a flicker of a smirk appears on his lips. When you remain silent, he backs away from you and lets out a cackle, clasping his hands together.

“He doesn’t need to know. I’m not his property.”

You grit your teeth and practically spit your words back at him. Being totally truthful, you don’t want Seth to know. It’ll probably cause even more conflict between them both, and although Seth would threaten to kick Dean’s ass, you know he wouldn’t unless he has Jamie and Joey by his side.

“Aw, don’t bullshit me. I’m sure he’s left his mark on you on more than one occasion. I bet you’re fuckin’ covered in hickeys under all those clothes, you kinky lil’ minx.”

He winks and drums his fingers along his collarbones. Even though his smile doesn’t appear to be as bright as it used to be, he's still looking triumphant because he’s finally left you speechless, even if there was a tinge of pure jealousy thrown into the mix. You roll your eyes and scoff at him, turning around to head for the door.

“I don’t have fucking time for this. I’ve done my part. I came along and admitted I was wrong, I tried making things as right as they can be between us, but you’re so damn obstinate. I care about you, alright? A lot. But-”

“But you’re gonna go running right back to him anyway, right? (Y/N), I swear to god, don’t come crying to me when he breaks your heart because you’ve fallen completely in love with him or whatever. He’s conniving, alright? He’ll hang around, get what he wants, and then he’s gonna leave you. That’s how he does things. He keeps telling you all the sweet little lies he knows you wanna hear just so he can get his way. He’s always known how I feel about you. He’s doing this just to spite me and it’s kinda killin’ me.”

He hisses, nodding his head and twiddling his fingers. He knows Seth better than anyone else did. Hell, they were brothers, but Seth never came across that way towards you. You don’t know whether to trust Dean or whether to ignore him. For all you know, he could been bullshitting you in hopes of you calling off whatever ‘thing’ you have going on with Seth right there and then.

“Bye, Dean. Good luck in your match tonight.”

You respond bluntly and somewhat sourly. You choose to ignore his warnings and turn your back on him, closing the door behind you. You slump against the door when you're outside, run your fingers through your hair, and hastily slip your glasses back on, eventually pushing yourself upright.  
  
You begin to aimlessly wander around backstage, and you have no idea what to do with yourself. Seeing as you're not working tonight, part of you wants to mope around in your locker room and sit alone for the rest of the night. You're not in the mood to see anybody, but at the same time, you just want comfort. You whip your phone out and scroll through your contacts, stopping when you find the name you're looking for.

> _Hey, I know you’re probably busy preparing for the show later, but would you mind coming to my locker room for a minute or two? Kinda need some company right now._

Once you send the text, you place your phone down on the floor and curl up on one of the benches. You groan to yourself and hug your knees, feeling more pissed off with yourself than anyone else. There’s nobody else to be pissed off with. You can’t blame either of the men when you're the one who initiated things with them. The other Divas are right. This is going to absolutely crush you in the end.

“It’s open.”

You call weakly when you hear a knock at your door. Your locker room door opens, but you don’t even glance upwards. You keep your head tucked into your chest with the same neutral, blank expression on your face.

“When you said ‘company’, I thought you meant…”

“No, Seth. I just wanna talk to you.”

You're already resenting yourself for asking him to come over. Dean's right. You’ve gone running back to Seth, or rather, made Seth come running to you, and that's always the way it's going to be. Seth has proven himself to be a good friend to you – as well as various other positive things – and all you want is to get some things off your chest.

“Why does this sound like it’s gonna be something bad?”

He grimaces and shuts the door behind him. He ambles his way over to you, but you don’t budge for him. Realising that you won’t budge, he sits down on the floor instead. He sits right in front of you and stares right into your eyes, even through your glasses.

“It’s nothing bad. I just wanna say sorry for kicking you out like that last night.”

You choose your words carefully in that moment. You could easily tell him everything that Dean just said to you, but it wouldn’t be fair to him when he has to go out and perform later. You don’t want to throw him off his game. You don’t want to go throwing accusations around just yet, but you're keeping Dean’s words in mind.

“(Y/N), it’s fine. You were tired,” he reassures you with a smile, but it soon fades, “Are you sure that’s all? You don’t seem yourself today.”

His brows furrow at you. You think about it for a minute, but you manage to muster a smile to make the façade believable. 

“Ugh, I don’t know. It’s just an off day.”

You groan and shrug at him indifferently, but you're lying through your teeth. Eventually, you’ll tell him what else is bothering you. Just not today. You’ve dealt with enough bullshit for today.

“Hey, c’mere.”

Seth gently pulls you up to your feet and in to his arms. You hesitate for a moment, but you soon wrap your arms around his waist. You can’t stop yourself from breathing him in, knowing that you really shouldn’t, but he smells good and you’ve been in desperate need of a hug from the very moment you woke up this morning. Accepting a friendly hug from him can’t possibly do that much harm, right?


	6. At Arm's Length

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You'd done your very best to avoid them both for the past week or so, and when you go running back to your current beau after uncovering some interesting things that you had kept to yourself for the time being, things almost erupt.

You decide to hook up with Seth again for the first time in over a week. He knows there's a reason as to why you've been keeping him at arm’s length, but you’re not prepared to tell him that Dean’s words are haunting you, and he’s not prepared to hound you about it for the week either. You’ve tried your best to distance yourself from them both, but in the end, you have to give in to your needs and pay Seth a visit in his hotel room.

“God, that was amazing.”

He huffs and emits a slight chuckle, keeping his eyes trained on the patterns that adorn the ceiling as he tries to catch his breath, a wide, toothy grin fixed on his face despite his chest rising and falling irregularly from the vigorous exercise. After not being with you for what he classes as a long time, he’s really decided to go at it with you today in order to compensate for that, and truth be told, he’s worn himself out just as much as he’s worn you out.

“Mm…”

You hum lazily and curl against Seth under the covers. It takes everything in you not to start tracing his abs with your index finger or splay a hand over his chest and pull him closer to you. He subconsciously curls his arm around you and pulls you in closer to him, and you can’t help but smirk at the action. His thumb softly circles over your hip, and it causes you to break out into a giggle.

“What?”

He gazes down at you with furrowed brows, and all you can do is purse your lips and hold his stare. The gesture itself is generally natural, but it just doesn’t seem overly natural to you, especially when you take your relationship with him into consideration. It isn’t meant to be anything like this. ‘No romance’ was part of the agreement, and the way he’s acting right now seems to be violating that.

“You’ve never held me like this after sex before.”

You sing softly, reaching near his hand to drum your fingers along the upside as you tease him. You feel him tense up slightly, knowing that you’ve caught him out on it.

“Nah, I’m sure I’ve cuddled you before, (Y/N).”

He hastily tries to dismiss it, but you're totally onto him. It's true. He’s granted you the opportunity to curl into his side one or two times before, but he’s never held you quite like this. This is something both new and different to you.

“No, you’ve never cuddled me like this before,” you roll onto your stomach and tap his chest with a finger, “I think it’s kinda cute.”

“I dunno…maybe I just want you to feel comfortable. What, you’d rather me just kick you out?”

He half smirks and quirks a brow at you as he holds your stare. You prop yourself up on your elbows and tut at him, leaning towards him and bringing your face within kissing distance of his.

“We both know you’re not gonna do that, nor do you want to.”

You whisper, pulling back before he has the chance to steal a kiss from you. You grin and settle back down, draping an arm around him this time and closing your eyes, giving in and melting into his arms, even if you know it’s wrong. This is a sure way to well and truly catch feelings for him if you haven’t already.

“I wanna ask you something.”

Seth speaks up after a few moments’ silence, and you nod your head against him whilst humming at the same time. There's another moments’ silence again, but for the time being, you think nothing of it. He sighs lightly and finally spits the question out.

“Why’d you avoid me practically all week?”

Your eyes open up again, but you're not feeling daring enough to look him in the eye and tell him the truth. Instead, you're prepared to shake it all off and hope that he doesn’t continue to grill you for an answer.

“I just needed a week to myself, I guess.”

You lie through your teeth, but even Seth can call your bluff on that one. You're just not convincing enough, or maybe he’s grown to know your every trait. There’s no way of telling whether it’s the former or the latter, but he knows you're lying.

“Alright, what’s the real reason?”

He persists, and rather than tell him another lie, you decide to simply suck it up and go straight in for the kill with it. You push yourself upright and sigh, brushing your hair back out of your face and scratching at the back of your neck.

“I don’t appreciate being used to make someone else jealous.”

You retort in eerie composure as you glare at him. Seth doesn’t know what to say to that one. You pull the covers up even further to shield your bare chest, folding your arms as you continue to pierce him with your jet black stare.

“Wait, what?”

He asks incredulously, but you know it's all an act. The way he exaggerates the pronunciation of the ‘t’ nearing the end of his sentence gives it away all too quickly. It's a distinct characteristic of his, and you're probably one of the only co-workers of his that have picked up on it besides Dean and Roman.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. Dean told me that you know how he feels about me. You’ve always known.”

You refuse to even look at him as you spit your words out. He's under the impression that you’ll never figure it out, but Dean isn’t going to keep something like this away from you. Even though he forebodingly told you not to come crying to him about all of this, he can’t help but at least look out for you. If you're truly happy with whatever it is you're doing with Seth, then he’ll leave you be, no matter how much it pains him.

“(Y/N)-“

“I’m not finished. You’re using me just to piss him off, aren’t you?”

All Seth can do is sigh and scratch at his beard. You scoff and pull yourself back from him, swinging your legs over the side of the bed and scanning your eyes over the floor in search for your underwear. Seth had carelessly cast it aside as soon as he’d been given the opportunity to get his hands on you.

“God, he was right about you.”

“Shit, I didn’t wanna do this,” he mutters to himself for a moment, “Before we started all this, we said no strings attached and all that, right?”

You sigh and give him a nod, immediately having a bad feeling about where he's going with this. You’ve never had this specific talk with anybody before, but you’ve had similar ones in the past. They all led to the same place.

“I’ll admit, I’ve always known how Dean’s felt about you, and yeah, I did start this whole thing between us because I wanted to piss him off. But the months have gone by, and I know we said that it’s purely a mutually beneficial relationship, but (Y/N), I’ve really fallen for you, sweetheart.”

You immediately stop searching for your clothes. This is definitely not what you want to hear, even if part of you knew it was going to happen eventually. You cover yourself with the bed sheets and turn back around to him, meeting his eyes with a solemn stare and a soft shake of the head.

“No, you’ve fallen for the attention I give you. You just love what we have going on here.”

You feebly attempt to dissuade him, but it only makes him more persistent. Seth sighs deeply and cards his hands through his hair before continuing.

“Yeah, I do like what we’ve got going on here, but this has turned into more than just sex to me. Don’t you see how much things have changed between us? When we first started this, it was literally just me turning up to your hotel room for a quick fuck and then heading off to my own room again. Now, look at us.”

He pauses for a moment to sit up and edge himself towards you. You can feel his eyes fixed on your face, practically burning holes into your skin with his stare, but you ignore it. You sigh heavily and clutch at the sheets covering your torso with one hand, and you're unable to avoid the way he rests his hand over your free hand that's still flat against the mattress.

“(Y/N), I don’t wanna be the guy you call whenever you need someone to get you off, alright? I could be so much more than that if you’d let me.”

Seth's practically pleading for you to give him a chance, even though you’ve told him that you aren’t quite ready for the commitment. He edges himself even closer to you, and without even looking at him, you know he's burning holes through you with his stare.

“We’re only doing this because we’re lonely on the road, Seth. I’m single, you’re single, and this only started because we were testing the waters and it turns out that it worked in our favour. How do I know that you’re not just doing this so Dean has no chance whatsoever?”

You finally look at him, and there's a scowl on his face, which is probably jealousy more than any other feeling.

“Why are you making this about Ambrose?”

“Because I’m fucking hurting him and it’s killing me. Seth, when I asked you to come to my locker room that one day, it’s because I went to see Dean beforehand to apologise to him. You never did ask me why he was screaming at me the night prior to that, so I’m just gonna tell you what went down. He turned up expecting to take me out, and then I answered the door to him in your clothes. Of course, he freaked out, but it’s because I had a little thing with him too. It’s nothing quite like us, but it was kind of…a flirtationship.”

You pause for a moment and study his face. He's still listening intently, and there's no sign of him wanting to speak up just yet. There's nothing he can really say anyway. You two were never exclusive, and because of that fact, you have no reason to even tell him about this in the first place.

“He was so mad at me, Seth, and had you have been there, he probably would’ve kicked your ass or something worse than that. So, I ran after him. He was still so pissed off with me and he just wouldn’t shut up about the thought of me being with you, so I slapped the taste out of his mouth. Then, I don’t know why I did it, but I kissed him. I panicked. I-I totally panicked.”

You trail off, casting your eyes away from him again, but they're trained back onto his when he delicately cups your cheek and tilts your face back towards his. You're expecting him to be somewhat pissed with you for some reason, but he isn’t. If anything, his expression is soft, understanding, even comforting. All you can think about is the kiss you shared with Dean that night, remembering the way his lips bruised feverishly against yours when you first initiated the kiss, right up to the moment he pulled away and left you breathless. You’ve been craving him ever since, and he crosses your mind on a daily basis.

“You have feelings for him, don’t you?”

He asks, directly addressing you and captivating you with brown eyes, and while you're shaking your head at him, still lying to yourself by denying and trying to fight whatever you feel for the slightly older man, as well as trying to shake him off your mind right this very instant, you know what the real answer is just as much as Seth does.

_Yes._


End file.
